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University of tlie State of New Yorl( Bulletin 

Application for entry as second-class matter at the Post Office at Albany, N. Y., pending 

Published fortnightly 

No. 535 ALBANY, N. Y. January 15, 1913 



Attendance Division 
COMPULSORY EDUCATION 



h 



Article 23 of the Education Law {L. 1910, ch. 140, amended by 
L. 1911, ch. 710 and L. 1913, chs. 101, 511 and 748) 

ARTICLE 23 

COMPULSORY EDUCATION 

Section 620 Instruction required 

621 Required attendance upon instruction 

622 When a boy is required to attend evening school 

623 Instruction elsewhere than at a public school 

624 Duties of persons in ^paternal relation to children 

625 Penalty for failure to perform ^paternal duty 

626 Unlawful employment of children and penalty 

therefor 

627 Employer must display record certificate and even- 

ing, part-time or continuation school certificate 

628. Punishment for unlawful employment of children 

629 Teachers must keep record of attendance 

630 School record certificate 

631 Evening, part-time or continuation school certificate 

632 Attendance officers 

633 Arrest of truants 

634 Interference with attendance officers 

635 Truant schools 

636 Enforcement of law and withholding the State 

moneys by Commissioner of Education 

§ 620 Instruction required. The instruction required under 
this article shall be: 

1 At a public school in which at least the six common school 
branches of reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, English lan- 
guage and geography are taught in English. 

1 So in original. 
C6r-Jli3-io,ooo (7-7250) 



2 

2 Elsewhere than a public school upon instruction in the same 
subjects taught in English bj a competent teacher. 

§ 621 Required attendance upon instruction. 1 Every child 
within the compulsory school ages, in proper physical and mental 
condition to attend school, residing in a city or school district 
having a population of five thousand or more and employing a 
superintendent of schools, shall regularly attend upon instruc- 
tion as follows: 

a Each child betM'een seven and fourteen years of age shall 
attend the entire time during which the school attended is in 
session, which period shall not be less than one hundred and sixty 
days of actual school. 

Note. By subdivision 3 of section 492 of the Education Law as amended by 
Laws of 1913, chapter .511, schools are required to be open 180 days in each year to 
entitle the dist-icts to their apportionments of public money. 

h Each child between fourteen and sixteen years of age not 
regularly and lawfully engaged in any useful employment or 
service, and to whom an employment certificate has not been duly 
issued under the provisions of the labor law, shall so attend the 
entire time during which the school attended is in session. 

2 Every such child, residing elsewhere than in a city or school 
district having a population of five thousand or more and em- 
ploying a superintendent of schools, shall attend upon instruc- 
tion during the entire time that the school in the district shall be 
in session, as follows : 

a Each child between eight and fourteen years of age. 

h Each child between fourteen and sixteen years of age not 
regularly and lawfully engaged in any useful emplopnent or 
service. [Subd. amended by L. 1913, ch. 511.] 

3 The provisions of this section are intended to include all 
blind children, except such as may receive appointments under the 
provisions of article thirty-eight of this chapter. [Amended by 
L. 1911, ch. 710.] 

§ 622 When a boy is required to attend evening school. 1 Every 
boy between fourteen and sixteen years of age, in a city of the 
first class or a city of the second class in possession of an employ- 
ment certificate duly issued under the provisions of the labor law, 
who has not completed such course of study as is required for 
graduation from the elementary public schools of such city, and 
who does not hold either a certificate of graduation from the 
public elementary school or the preacademic certificate issued by 
the Regents or the certificate of the completion of an elementary 
course issued by the Education Department, shall attend the 
public evening schools of such city, or other evening schools 

0. OF D. 
AUG 9 J918 



L C 1 2>i 

offering an equivalent course of instruction, for not less than six 
honrs each week, for a period of not less than sixteen weeks. 

2 When the board of education in a city or district shall have 
established part-time and continuation schools or courses of in- 
struction for the education of young persons between fourteen and 
sixteen years of age who are regularly employed in such city or 
district, said board of education may require the attendance in 
such schools or on such courses of instruction of any young per- 
son in such a city or district who is in possession of an employ- 
ment certificate duly issued under the provisions of the labor law, 
who has not completed such courses of study as are required for 
graduation from the elementary public schools of such city or 
district or equivalent courses of study in parochial or other ele- 
mentary schools, who does not hold either a certificate of gradua- 
tion from the public elementary school or a preacademic certifi- 
cate of the completion of the elementary course issued by the 
Education Department, and who is not otherwise receiving in- 
struction approved by the board of education as equivalent to 
that provided for in the schools and courses of instruction estab- 
lished under the provisions of this act. The required attendance 
provided for in this paragraph shall be for a total of not less than 
thirty-six w^eeks per year, at the rate of not less than four and not 
more than eight hours per week, and shall be between the hours 
of eight o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon 
of any working day or days. 

3 The children attending such part-time or continuation schools 
as required in paragraph two of this section shall be exempt from 
the attendance on evening schools required in paragraph one of 
this section. [Amended by L. 1913, ch. 748.] 

§ 623 Instruction elsewhere than at a public school. If any 
such child shall so attend upon instruction elsewhere than at a 
public school, such instruction shall be at least substantially 
equivalent to the instruction given children of like age at the 
public school of the city or district in which such child resides ; 
and such attendance shall be for at least as many hours each day 
thereof as are required of children of like age at public schools ; 
and no greater total amount of holidays or vacations shall be 
deducted from such attendance during the period such attend- 
ance is required than is allowed in such public school to children 
of like age. Occasional absences from such attendance, not 
amounting to irregular attendance in the fair meaning of the 
term, shall be allowed upon such excuses only as would be al- 
lowed in like cases by the general rules and practice of such 
public school. 



§ 624 Duties of persons in parental relation to children. Every 
person in parental relation to a child within the compulsory 
school ages and in proper physical and mental condition to attend 
school, shall cause such child to attend upon instruction, as 
follows : 

1 In cities and school districts having a population of five thou- 
sand or above, every child between seven and sixteen years of age 
as required by section six hundred and twenty-one of this act 
unless an employment certificate shall have been duly issued to 
such child under the provisions of the labor law and he is regu- 
larly employed thereunder. 

2 Elsewhere than in a city or school district having a popula- 
tion of five thousand or above, every child between eight and 
sixteen years of age, unless such child shall have received an 
employment certificate duly issued under the provisions of the 
labor law and is regularly employed thereunder in a factory or 
mercantile establishment, business or telegraph office, restaurant, 
hotel, apartment house or in the distribution or transmission of 
merchandise or messages, or unless such child shall have received 
the school record certificate issued under section six hundred and 
thirty of this act and is regularly employed elsewhere than in the 
factory or mercantile establishment, business or telegraph office, 
restaurant, hotel, apartment house or in the distribution or trans- 
mission of merchandise or messages. 

§ 625 Penalty for failure to perform parental duty. A viola- 
tion of section six hundred and twenty-four shall be a misde- 
meanor, punishable for the first offense by a fine not exceeding 
five dollars, or five days' imprisonment, and for each subsequent 
offense by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or by imprisonment 
■ not exceeding thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 
Courts of special session and police magistrates shall, subject to 
removal as provided in sections fifty-seven and fifty-eight of the 
Code of Criminal Procedure, have exclusive jurisdiction in the 
first instance to hear, try and determine charges of violations of 
this section within their respective jurisdictions. 

§ 626 Unlawful employment of children and penalty therefor. 
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation : 

1 To employe^ any child under fourteen years of age, in any 
business or service whatever, for any part of the term during 
which the public schools of the district or city in which the child 
resides are in session. 

2 To employ, elsewhere than in a city of the first class or a 
city of the second class, in a factory or mercantile establishment, 

*So in original. 



business or telegraph office, restaurant, hotel, apartment house 
or in the distribution or transmission of merchandise or messages, 
any child between fourteen and sixteen years of age who does not 
at the time of such employment present an employment certifi- 
cate duly issued under the provisions of the labor law, or to em- 
ploy any such child in any other capacity who does not at the 
time of such employment present a school record certificate as 
provided in section six hundred and thirty of this chapter. 

3 To employ any child between fourteen and sixteen years of 
age in a city of the first class or a city of the second class who 
does not, at the time of such employment, present an employment 
certificate, duly issued under the provisions of the labor law. 

§ 627 Employer must display record certificate and evening, part- 
time or continuation school certificate. The employer of any child 
between fourteen and sixteen years of age in a city or district 
shall keep and shall display in the place where such child is em- 
ployed, the employment certificate and also his evening, part-time 
or continuation school certificate issued by the school authorities 
of said city or district or by an authorized representative of such 
school authorities, certifying that the said child is regularly in 
attendance at an evening, part-time or continuation school of said 
city as provided in section six hundred and thirty-one of this 
chapter. [Amended by L. 1913, ch. 748.] 

§ 628 Punishment for unlawful employment of children. Any 

person, firm, or corporation, or any officer, manager, superintend- 
ent or employee acting therefor, who shall employ any child con- 
trary to the provisions of sections six hundred and twenty-six 
and six hundred and twenty-seven hereof, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor and the punishment therefor shall be for the first 
offense a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more than fifty 
dollars ; for a second and each subsequent offense, a fine of not 
less than fifty dollars nor more than two hundred dollars. 
[Amended by L. 1913, ch. 748.] 

§ 629 Teachers must keep record of attendance. An accurate 
record of the attendance of all children between seven and six- 
teen years of age shall be kept by the teacher of every school, 
showing each day by the year, month, day of the month and day 
of the week, such attendance, and the number of hours in each 
day thereof; and each teacher upon whose instruction any such 
child shall attend elsewhere than at school, shall keep a like record 
of such attendance. Such record shall, at all times, be open to the 
attendance officers or other person duly authorized by the school 
authorities of the city or district, who may inspect or copy the 
same; and every such teacher shall fully answer all inquiries 



lawfully made by such authorities, inspectorSj or other persons, 
and a wilful neglect or refusal so to answer any such inquiry 
shall be a misdemeanor. 

§ 630 School record certificate. 1 A school record certificate 
shall contain a statement certifying that a child has regularly 
attended the public schools, or schools equivalent thereto, or 
parochial schools, for not less than one hundred and thirty days 
during the twelve months next preceding his fourteenth birthday 
or during the twelve months next preceding his application for 
such school record, and that he is able to read and write simple 
sentences in the English language and has received during such 
period instruction in reading, writing, spelling, English gram- 
mar and geography and is familiar with the fundamental opera- 
tions of arithmetic up to and including fractions, and has com- 
pleted the work prescribed for the first six years of the public ele- 
mentary school, or school equivalent thereto, or parochial school, 
from which such school record is issued. Such record shall also 
give the date of birth and residence of the child, as shown on the 
school records, and the name of the child's parents, guardian or 
custodian. [Amended by L. 1913, ch. 101.] 

2 A teacher or superintendent to whom application shall be 
made for a school record certificate required under the pro- 
visions of the labor law shall issue a school record certificate to 
any child who, after due investigation and examination, may be 
f oiTnd to be entitled to the same as follows : 

a In a city of the first class by the principal or chief executive 
of a school. 

b In all other cities and in school districts having a population 
of five thousand or more and employing a superintendent of 
schools, by the superintendent of schools only. 

c In all other school districts by the principal teacher of the 
school. 

d In each city or school district such certificate shall be fur- 
nished on demand to a child entitled thereto or to the board or 
commissioner of health. 

§ 631 Evening, part-time or continuation school certificate. The 

school authorities in a city or district, or ofiicers designated by 
them, are hereby required to issue to each child lawfully in at- 
tendance at an evening, part-time or continuation school, an even- 
ing, part-time or continuation school certificate at least once in 
each month during the months said evening, part-time or con- 
tinuation school is in session and at the close of the term of said 
evening, part-time or continuation school, provided that said 
child has been in attendance upon said evening school, for not 



less than six lionrs each week or upon said part-time or cou- 
tiniiation school for not less than four hours each week, for such 
number of weeks as will, when taken in connection with the num- 
ber of weeks such evening, part-time or continuation school re- 
spectively, shall be in session during the remainder of the cur- 
rent or calendar year, make up a total attendance on the part of 
said child in said evening school, of not less than six hours per 
week for a period of not less than sixteen weeks or in said part- 
time or continuation school, of not less than four hours per week 
for a period of not less than thirty-six weeks. Such certificate 
shall state fully the period of time which the child to whom it is 
issued was in attendance upon such evening, part-time or con- 
tinuation school. [Amended by L. 1913, ch. Y48.] 

§ 632 Attendance officers. 1 The school authorities of each 
city, union free school district, or common school district whose 
limits include in whole or in part an incorporated village, shall 
appoint and may remove at pleasure one or more attendance 
officers of such city or district, and shall fix their compensation 
and may prescribe their duties not inconsistent with this article 
and make rules and regulations for the performance thereof; and 
the superintendent of schools shall supervise the enforcement of 
this article within such city or school district. 

2 The town board of each town shall appoint, subject to the 
written approval of the school commissioner of the district, one 
or more attendance officers, whose jurisdiction shall extend over 
all school districts in said town, and which are hot by this section 
otherwise provided for, and shall fix their compensation, which 
shall be a town charge ; and such attendance officers, appointed by 
said board, shall be removable at the pleasure of the school com- 
missioner in whose commissioner district such town is situated. 

§ 633 Arrest of truants. 1 The attendance officer may arrest 
without a warrant any child between seven and sixteen years of 
age who is a truant from instruction upon which he is lawfully 
required to attend within the city or district of such attendance 
officer. He shall forthwith deliver the child so arrested to a teacher 
from whom such child is then a truant, or, in case of habitual and 
incorrigible truants, shall bring them before a police magistrate 
for commitment to a truant school as provided in section six hun- 
dred and thirty-five. 

2 The attendance officer shall promptly report such arrest and 
the disposition which he makes of such child, to the school authori- 
ties of the said city or district where such child is lawfully re- 
quired to attend upon instruction. 

3 A truant officer in the performance of his duties may enter, 
during business hours, any factory, mercantile or other establish- 



8- 

ment within the city or school district in which he is appointed 
and shall be entitled to examine employment certificates or reg- 
istry of children employed therein on demand. 

§ 634 Interference with attendance officer. Any person inter- 
fering with an attendance officer in the lawfnl dischar&'e of his 
duties and any person owning or operating a factory, mercantile 
or other establishment who shall refnse on demand to exhibit to 
such attendance officer the registry of the children employed or 
the employment certificate of such children shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor. 

§ 635 Truant schools, 1 The school authorities of any city or 
school district may establish schools, or set apart separate rooms 
in public school buildings, for children between seven and six- 
teen years of age, who are habitual truants from instruction upon 
which they are lawfully required to attend, or who are insubordi- 
nate or disorderly during their attendance upon such instruction, 
or irregular in such attendance. Such school or room shall be 
known as a truant school ; but no person convicted of crimes or 
misdemeanors other than truancy, shall be committed thereto. 

2 School authorities may provide for the confinement, mainte- 
nance and instruction of such truants in such schools ; and they, 
or the superintendent of schools in any city or school district, 
may, after reasonable notice to such child and the persons in 
parental relation to such child, and an opportunity for them to 
be heard, and with the consent in writing of the persons in 
parental relation to such child, order such child to attend such 
school, or to be confined and maintained therein, under such 
rules and regulations as such authorities may prescribe, for a 
period not exceeding two years; but in no case shall a child be 
so confined after he is sixteen years of age. 

3 Such authorities may order such a child to be confined and 
maintained during such period in any private school, orphans' 
home or similar institution controlled by persons of the same 
religious faith as the persons in parental relation to such child, 
and which is willing and able to receive, confine and maintain 
such child, upon such terms as to compensation as may be agreed 
upon between such authorities and such private school, orphans' 
home or similar institution. 

4 If the person in parental relation to such child shall not 
consent to either of such orders said persons shall be proceeded 
against in court under section six hundred and twenty-five of this 
chapter by the school authorities or such officer as they may desig- 
nate. In case the person in parental relation to such child estab- 
lishes to the satisfaction of the court that such child is beyond 



his control such child shall be proceeded against as a disorderly 
person, and upon conviction thereof, if the child was lawfully 
required to attend a public school, the child shall be sentenced 
to be confined and maintained in such truant school for a period 
not exceeding two years; or if such child was lawfully required 
to attend upon instruction otherwise than at a public school, the 
child may be sentenced to be confined and maintained for a period 
not exceeding two years in such private school, orphans' home or 
other similar institutions, if there be one, controlled by persons 
of the same religious faith as the persons in parental relation to 
such child, which is willing and able to receive, confine and main- 
tain such child for a reasonable compensation. Such confinement 
shall be conducted with a view to the improvement and to the 
restoration, as soon as practicable, of such child to the institu- 
tion elsewhere, upon which he may be lawfully required to attend. 

5 The authorities committing any such child, and in cities 
and districts having a superintendent of schools such superin- 
tendent shall have authority, in his discretion, to parole at any 
time any truant so committed by them. 

6 Every child lawfully suspended from attendance upon in- 
struction for more than one week, shall be required to attend 
such truant school during the period of such suspension. 

7 The school authorities of any city or school district, not hav- 
ing a truant school, may contract with any other city or district 
having a truant school, for the confinement, maintenance and in- 
struction therein of children whom such school authorities might 
require to attend a truant school, if there were one in their own 
city or district. 

8 Industrial training shall be furnished in every such truant 
school. 

9 The expense attending the commitment and cost of mainte- 
nance of any truant residing in any city, or district, employing 
a superintendent of schools shall be a charge against such city, 
or district, and in all other cases shall be a county charge. 

§ 636 Enforcement of law and withholding the State moneys by 
Commissioner of Education. 1 The Commissioner of Education 
shall supervise the enforcement of this law and he may withhold 
one half of all public school moneys from any city or district, 
which, in his judgment, wilfully omits and refuses to enforce the 
provisions of this article, after due notice, so often and so long as 
such wilful omission and refusal shall, in his judgment, continue. 

2 If the provisions of this article are complied with at any 
time within one year from the date on which said moneys were 
withheld, the monevs so withheld shall be paid over by said 



10 

Commissioner of Education to sneh district or city, otherwise for- 
feited to the State. 

Schools in session 180 days beginning on the first Tuesday of Sep- 
tember. It is provided by subdivision 3 of section 492 of the 
Education Law, as amended by Laws of 1913, chapter 511, that 
all schools shall be in session for 180 days, to entitle districts 
to full apportionments of public moneys, and that '' in common 
school districts the term of school shall begin each year on the 
first Tuesday of September." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 331 979 6 



